To make a long story short …
I was born in January 1963 in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Starting in Bala Cynwyd, my family moved further west along the Main Line to Paoli and then to Malvern with three others born along the way (two brothers and a sister). We had a large forest behind the house, where I roamed in my imaginary world.
When I was 12 we moved to Easton, Maryland. Spent the 7th grade at a Catholic School, because the public school was so aweful. Then, a life-changing event occurred. I went to St. Andrews School in Middletown, Deleware from 8th grade to graduation on a scholarship. It is an Episcopal boarding school founded by the DuPont family in the 1930’s. The quality of education was so great that when I graduated I was as educated as most college graduates anywhere. I loved it.
I had always been very active in the Episcopal Church. My grandfather Price was the head Vicar/Minister of the largest church in downtown Philadelphia. By the time I was a Junior in high school, I was a lisenced lay preacher by the Bishop of Deleware. There was a fine line between what I could and could not do. For example, I could baptize and give last rights, but not marry. Could lead evening prayer, but not a communion service. I could give homilies, but not sermons. I coud give you the wine, but not the bread at communion.
After a visit to New York’s Chinatown, I vowed that one day I would learn to read and write the characters on the signs. So, when it came time to make my university decision, I chose the University of Chicago simply because it had the best Asian Studies program in the country. At this time, I also became a Quaker. I made several 90 degree decisions in my late teens that were very wise.
When I was 20, I travelled for the first time overseas to my favorite continent, Europe, for the summer. In the Fall, I travelled to Taiwan and enrolled at Fu Ren University in Taipei. There I became bilingual in Mandarin and travelled throughout Asia and India. I started to seriously write poetry. I returned to graduate by taking the Trans-Siberian railway from Beijing to Ulan Bator, Mongolia to Irkutsk, Moscow, and Leningrad of the Soviet Union to Finland and another trip through Europe before returning to Chicago. When I returned I would say that my Junior year abroad was the best 3 years of my life.
Having already started several successful companies, I felt comfortable doing business and had a head for it. I went to Thunderbird, the best international business school in the US. There, I studied Japanese and for my 3rd semester I won a full scholarship from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to study at their graduate school in Fujinomiya, in the forests at the foot of Mount Fuji. I was hired by Siber Hegner in Tokyo, a Swiss trading company, and sent to Hong Kong to devise market entry strategies for high-end European luxury brands. I also managed the Asian side of the counter trade (barter) operations with Europe. I returned via Europe to finish my MBA.
After earning my MBA, I worked in Asia for about 20 years managing the Asian operations of US companies then later all worldwide operations as the CEO/COO/President. At one point, I needed a break and chose Oakland to live, where for 3 years I lived as close to the ideals of Jesus (simply love and service to others with no fundementalist nonsense).
Specifically, I was very active with the Americans Friends Service Committee in trying to eliminate the death penalty, giving hope and a path to the homeless (especially homeless teens), and working in the Oakland Public School system, specializing in Special Ed (kids with special needs) and Alternative Ed (kids who have lost school time for being pregnant or in jail or both). I earned USD800 a month and bicycled everywhere.
I was also very active in the Bay area’s poetry scene, including being a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Poet’s Union. We oftened threatened to go on strike and not write any more poems until society gave us the recognition we deserved. I wrote many of my best poems then and participated in many poetry reading events.
Why did I stop? My mind was not being challenged and so did a project in Ukraine for USAID. After stupidly falling in love with my beautiful interpretor who had a very different idea of what life in the US should be, I returned to the US with her and I bought a house in southern California. We were married for 7 years and then I divorced her (for very good reasons). Later, I built a successful contract manufacturing company with operations in China (www.nimbus-sourcing.com) and was an interim executive for several companies in California.
After growing weary of the nonesense politics of corporate life, I started my own consulting company (www.stratus-consulting.com) where I transform companies by improving their operations. I have worked on 4 continents across many industries.
I was on a project in Ashtabula, Ohio about 45 minutes from Cleveland, where in July 2016 the Republican National Convention chose Trump to be their candidate. Three weeks later I finally did what I have talked and thought about for decades, I moved to Europe where I now live as a resident of Portugal.
So, I am writing this in my palace home in Estoril, Portugal, where Carol II, the second to last king of Romania, lived in political exile from 1940 to 1953. My old friend Gwennie, a large and beautiful Maine Coon cat, naps beside my computer. Finally, I have become a writer.
In summary: I am politically a progressive, who loaths organized religion and all the evil they have done throughout history. I would be a buddhist, except their unattached minds must treat everything equally with no love of anyone over anyone else. This I cannot do. Read my thoughts on religion below. I have the imagination and heart of a poet, yet I can successively manage companies of thousands. I have travelled to 88 countries and speak Mandarin, Portuguese, and French.
For those who feel, the world makes them cry. For those who think, the world makes them laugh. I am both. All of the above is reflected in my writings: conversations, characters, ideas, plots, etc. Please let me open my world to you through my writing.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I am honored to have been called a heretic and a blasphemer. Read my Essay on Religion and find out why. Click the button on the left.